LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY crazyjane13)

Hi all,

I attended an academic conference for Studies in Religion on the weekend. One of the papers delivered looked at School Chaplaincy and the Religious Right. Some of the things I heard seemed downright alarming, and I wondered if anyone had any feedback regarding the organisations involved. From what I've been finding, there are few groups Down Here that don't have a parent group in the US, so I'd appreciate any info, please.

Recently the Howard government set up its National Chaplaincy in Schools Program. This is a non-compulsory, opt-in program. There are all sorts of hidden problems, however. In South Australia, this has had huge consequences. The sole group that is providing specialised chaplain training is the School Ministries Group, which describes itself as a co-operative network of 11 church denominations. A quick look at their links pages shows what appears to be a pretty ecumenical setup as far as "denominational organisations" go. Looking at the children's and youth organisations links page, though, there are some names that come up that ring a few alarm bells.

Those links are : Youth With A Mission, Youth Alive, Teen Challenge, Encounter Youth and In2Life.

I guess I'm kinda wondering to what extent this apparently multi-denominational group is, in fact, being run by groups that are Dominionist in orientation (or at least sympathy). There are whisperings that the SMG are planning to expand into the rest of Australia, and it would be as well to be forearmed.